Art in the Christian Tradition

Download Thumbnail image:

Download Medium image:

Download Large image:

Title:

Sarcophagus of Marcus Claudianus-Peter Striking the Rock and his Arrest

Notes:

Although the subject matter presented by this sarcophagus is based upon the Apocryphal Acts of Peter, it presents the theme of the continuity of authority. This authority was first manifest in Moses' act of striking the rock to bring forth water (Exodus 17:1-7.) The rod that Moses used was a strong symbol of his authority to both lead the Israelites and to perform miracles. Here we see Peter performing the same activity, thereby strengthening his own authority, granted by Jesus, to lead the Christian Church. To the right of the scene of Peter's arrest, Christ is performing two miracles, the Wedding at Cana and a healing miracle. Christ holds a rod, symbolizing his own authority as the Son of God and as a miracle-worker.

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial ShareAlike 3.0 License. In short: you are free to use and to share the file for non-commercial purposes under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license compatible with this one. For uses other than the above, contact the Divinity Library at divref@vanderbilt.edu.

Attribution:

Sarcophagus of Marcus Claudianus-Peter Striking the Rock and his Arrest, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54026 [retrieved December 9, 2016]. Original source: From the library of Lee M. Jefferson.